The People`s Paper

Lighting The Road To Freedom
Data Zone
Belafonte
Speaks Out
Page 7
“The People’s Paper”
January 28, 2006
39th Year
Volume 35
The Soul of New Orleans
Black History
Month
Page 2
OPINION
BLACK PRESS CONVENTION
Love Dr. Returns
The Power of Networking
Page 8
Page 10
Page January 28, 2006
New Orleans Data News Weekly
COVER STORY
New Orleans Black Music History
The Soul of New Orleans
By Thomas Dorsey
Louis Armstrong
Buddy Bolden
Jazz Traditions:
Jazz historians debate the precise founding of Jazz, but the ingredients are
well known. The History of Jazz is rooted in the history of Black New Orleans,
the two are inseparable, New Orleans and it’s child The Reconstruction Era
(1865-1877) gave many African Americans unprecedented human rights and
business opportunities. Many ex-slaves, Civil War veterans, Buffalo Soldiers,
Caribbean immigrants found work and started businesses in New Orleans.
Live improvisational music was a common past-time influenced by West African
rhythms in Congo Square. Simultaneously, light-skinned Creoles were proud
to be schooled in the European arts of literature and Classical music with
its delicate chords. Creole musicians looked down on the unwritten music of
their darker brethren. Politics and growing racism would alter their feelings
and lifestyle.
Marsalis Family
Continued next page.
DATA News Weekly
INSIDE DATA
Cover
Story
page 2
Data Zone
Trailblazer
page5
page 6
Opinion
State & Local
News
page 4
page 8
NNPA
page 10
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New Orleans Data News Weekly
January 28, 2006
Continued from previous page.
In 1894, the infamous “White Act” was
passed forcing Creoles, since they also had
African ancestry, to lose their privileged
status. Creole musicians, in order to continue
working, mingled with African American
Blues musicians from Faubourg Treme. At
the same time, Ragtime musicians looking
for gigs arrived by riverboat from St. Louis
and Memphis. A spicy mixture of high
energy for Ragtime, structure from Classical
music and the stinging improvisation from
the Blues evolved into a musical gumbo.
The major commercialization of Jazz
occurred in the Storyville section of Faubourg Treme. Bounded by Basin
Street, Iberville Street, Robertson Street and St. Louis Street, Storyville
was named after councilman Sidney Story who advanced city legislation to
quarantine, but not prohibit prostitution in 1897. Given 24-hour bordellos,
lax drinking laws and visiting plantation owners, money flowed. Political
powers of the time enjoyed a windfall ownership of saloons, restaurantbars and bordellos. You couldn’t have wine and women without song,
so Black and Creole musicians were employed to keep the atmosphere
banging. Band leaders and composers of that time, Buddy Bolden, King
Oliver, Sidney Bechet, and “Jelly Roll” Morton, soon became the largerthan-life founders of Jazz.
Jelly Roll Morton
As the city grew more sophisticated, public sentiment turned against
blatant prostitution, excessive drinking and resultant crime. Politicians
were forced to close raucous Storyville in 1917.
Most reputable jazzmen scattered to Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago
and New York. Enough stayed to make a living, thereby sustaining the
tradition and laying the Jazz roadmap for generations to follow. Of the Jazz
musicians who stayed, they survived by playing on riverboats, upscale
venues, making recordings and occasional tours to New York and Chicago.
Kid Ory’s and King Oliver’s Jazz bands come to mind. By the 1930s, one
unforgettable New Orleanian trumpeter, who sharpened his craft in King
Oliver’s band, vaulted to international fame. Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong
eclipsed his mentors as the first Jazz Ambassador of the world.
Professor Longhair
Blues Traditions
It has been said that the Blues has always been the idiom that defined how people
defined music. It is the underlying motif of the Gospel, Jazz, R&B/Soul, and Rock & Roll
traditions that borrowed heavily from it.
Originally derived from celebratory lyrical songs sung by enslaved Black laborers of
the South in the late 19th Century, the Blues was just that--a vocal musical form that
expressed how people felt. When free African Americans moved northward at the turn
of the century, these a cappella vocalizations came to be accompanied by the harmonica,
guitar and piano, later leading to the divergent styles we recognize and love today – Blues,
Jazz and R&B/Soul.
In the Mississippi Delta region, particularly New Orleans, horns and extensive piano
stylings coupled with storytelling, uplifting lyrics and plodding, complex rhythms were
known as New Orleans Blues. Early Blues divas here included Bessie Smith, named the
greatest of the classic Blues singers of the 1920’s; Ma Rainey, billed as the Mother of
the Blues and generally credited with the rise in popularity of Blues music in America
at that time; and Irma Thomas, discovered by bandleader Tommy Ridgley in 1959 and
known as the Queen, and sometimes Soul Queen, of the Blues. The latter is still actively
performing!
Other Blues greats
who made their mark
here
were
Little
A torch was passed to Fats Domino and Professor Longhair, who became
Brother Montgomery,
legends in their own right. Preservation Jazz Hall employs old-time jazz
Sugar Boy Crawford,
musicians in the French Quarter. The Marsalis Family, Pud Brown, Dr.
Tuts
Washington,
Michael White, the Neville Brothers and Percy Humphrey continue the
Champion
Jack
tradition of keeping jazz in the vanguard of New Orleans culture at various
Dupree and Professor
clubs around the city. Sometimes they just drop in spontaneously to jam
Longhair. A self-taught
in one of the city’s serious jazz clubs like Snug Harbor, Funky Butt, or
pianist noted for his
Tipintina’s. They always come around for New Orleans Jazz Festival.
boogie-woogie pianoToday, jazz keeps its story, but lists the world as its address.
work and distinctive
lyrics depicting some
of life’s unattractive
aspects, Dupree is said
to have personified New
Orleans
Blues.
While
Professor Longhair (Henry
Roland Byrd) on the other
hand, was arguably the
most influential exponent of
the New Orleans Blues style
with his widely recognized
rocking, raucous piano
signature fusing Cuban
rumba currents into an AfroCaribbean sound peppered
with traditional Blues pianostyle. He was so revered
that Tipitina’s nightclub is
named after a song he wrote
Neville Brothers
by the same name.
Throughout the years, the Blues has become a major influence on American popular music,
and is expressed today in nearly all musical forms from modern classical, to R&B, Rock and Roll,
Country, and of course, Jazz. Consequently, New Orleans role in the early commercialization of
that musical genre is second only to Memphis.
Continued page 11.
He gave a voice to equality.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. He challenged
America to live out the true meaning of the Constitution
and he called us to liberty and justice for all.
There was magic in his voice and through his powerful
speeches and the language of his life, he was able to
inspire thousands of people all over the world to come
together and share his dream of equality.
The BellSouth family salutes Dr. King. We have always
believed that if we improve the way people
communicate, we bring them closer together.
bellsouth.com
©2006 BellSouth Corporation.
Page Page January 28, 2006
New Orleans Data News Weekly
STATE & LOCAL NEWS
City Waives Online Fees for Permits
(New Orleans, LA) Mayor C.
Ray Nagin today signed a wavier
of fee ordinance adopted by the
City Council allowing residential
homeowners of New Orleans to
retrieve single family homeowner
permits,
through
online
applications, free of charge from
January 10, 2006 through March
31, 2006.
The City of New Orleans
Department of Safety and Permits
issued a total of 33,417 permits in
2005, including 16,720 permits that
were issued between Hurricane
Katrina and the end of the year.
The department is issuing permits
500 percent faster than preKatrina due to online access. The
Department will continue to take
the necessary steps to issue a vital
number of permits to efficiently
and safely drive the rebuilding of
New Orleans.
The City of New Orleans also
announced it will no longer require
permits for electrical inspections of
individual trailers to expedite the
trailer process and to offer more
temporary housing for returning
residents.
The free access to safety permits is available
both at www.cityofno.com and through kiosks
located on the 7th and 8th floors of City Hall. For
citizens to apply by fax, they will be required to
use the Fax-In Permit Form, available on the
website or at the office of Safety and Permits.
The free FAX line is (504) 658-7210. Electronic
kiosks will continue to be available for citizens
at City Hall.
RECOVERY
ALERT
An Important Message
for Individuals Affected by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita...
If you were displaced by the hurricanes and are still living in a hotel
or motel, it is important to understand that FEMA will end its direct-billing
program for hotel and motel rooms on February 7, 2006, unless you contact
FEMA by January 30, 2006.
For FEMA to continue to pay for your hotel room beyond February 7, 2006,
you must contact FEMA no later than January 30 to receive an
authorization code to provide to your hotel. Any evacuee changing hotels or
checking into a hotel between now and January 30 must also have
a FEMA authorization code.
If you haven’t done so already, register for help from FEMA today.
You can also get help locating housing through FEMA.
To register or request authorization for FEMA to continue to pay for your
room beyond February 7, call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or for TTY callers,
1-800-462-7585 as soon as possible, but no later than January 30, and
provide this authorization code to your hotel.
If you were displaced from a low income housing unit funded by the
government, or you were homeless before the storm, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development can help you find housing options.
Call 1-866-373-9509 (TTY 1-800-877-8339). Lines are open 24 hours a day.
In addition to temporary housing assistance, there are a number of grant
programs that you may be eligible for. You do not need to
complete a loan application with the Small Business Administration
to be considered for FEMA’s temporary housing assistance
or funds for certain other disaster related needs you may have.
More than 700,000 families have already been helped with rental assistance
to pay for long-term housing. Join them and move on to a better housing option today.
Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, sex,
religion, national origin, age, disability, or economic status. If you or
someone you know has been discriminated against, you should call FEMA
at 800-621-3362 or contact your State Office of Equal Rights.
Governor Blanco sets dates
for special session
“In order to keep Louisiana’s
recovery moving forward, I will
call the Legislature into special
session on February 6. During
the twelve-day session, I will
put forth a focused agenda that
will accelerate our recovery. “We must consolidate our
levee boards and this will be
the centerpiece legislation for
this session. “The times require strong
action to secure our state’s
successes.
“From reopening the I-10
“Twin Span” and taking over
troubled New Orleans schools
to passing the state’s first
building code and the state’s
first uniform coastal protection authority, we’ve had many successes
in this recovery. “I am confident that this special session will continue our string of
successes by protecting the families and businesses rebuilding in the
hurricane zone.
“The Special Session is scheduled to run from February 6 until no
later than February 17. “Other items under consideration include: housing, limited insurance
and election issues, and consolidating some portions of Orleans parish
government.
“An official call will be issued on January 31.”
President Bush Should Fulfill
His Promise To Hurricane
Katrina Survivors
President Bush met with several
foundations at the White House to
talk about the Gulf Coast recovery
efforts. This meeting comes on the
heels of reports that bureaucratic
hurdles at Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
have hindered the clean up and
rebuilding effort, and that much of
the promises made by the President
have not been delivered.
The meeting also follows a
speech by former FEMA Director
Michael
Brown where he admitted that he failed to respond adequately to
Hurricane Katrina and that the recovery effort ‘’was beyond the
capacity of the state and local governments. “Four months after
Hurricane Katrina, local officials report that there still seems to be
a lack of committement to a long-term recovery plan at the federal
level. [The Boston Globe, 1/19/06]
“In response to wide spread criticism of his Administration’s failed
response, President Bush initially held photo-ops and press conferences
promising residents that this would be the largest rebuilding effort
ever, and that the federal government would be at the forefront of
the assistance,” said Democratic National Committee Spokesperson
Amaya Smith. “Four months later the President has failed to deliver
on his promise. Local residents are working hard on the ground to
rebuild their communities and they deserve the backing and help of
our federal government.”
New Orleans Data News Weekly
January 28, 2006
Page Vincent Sylvain:
A Beacon in the Darkness
Founder and Publisher of The New Orleans Agenda
As the television reported to the citizens of New Orleans
and the surrounding areas, that a mandatory evacuation
was being called, the family of Vincent Sylvain, began
calling each other, making a plan to meet at I-10 like most,
not knowing where they were going, or how long they
would be there. But unlike many unfortunate others, they
did have a plan. Thankfully, says Sylvain, we had one, and
my sisters had booked some rooms in Texas. We arrived
there, all together, safe and sound. But that isn’t when or
how the story of this trailblazer began, or how it ends.
After enduring the Hurricane George evacuation to the
Convention Center in 1995 when he was employed by then
Mayor Marc Morial, Sylvain, became intimately aware of
how important information is when people are in a crisis, or
scared and worried, in these types of situations. He recalls
passionately being in a dark room with others, no lights,
no windows, and being asked by another, for the time. When he responded he
was then asked…. “Is that day or night?” It was at that moment, that he became
passionate about information and how critical it is.
Little did he know, that when he began his fledgling website in 2003, www.
theneworleansagenda.com, would one day be the catalyst for generating
information throughout the country to his fellow New Orleanians who were
forced from their homes and city, disconnected from their husbands, wives,
parents, siblings and children, and strewn throughout the country from the flood
following Hurricane Katrina. Indeed, even Sylvain himself with his family was a
visitor in a strange place when they arrived in Texas.
Upon receiving the first reports that New Orleans had been spared from
Katrina’s wrath, he made plans to return home. Then he, like everyone else was
confronted with the reports of flooding beginning to engulf the city. He began to
wonder what would be his next move, when he received an email from the Jordan
family saying that they were safe in California and he responded. The next email
he received would direct his steps. He mentions that about a week before Katrina,
he had a dream which he had shared with his father and members of his church.
It was that he was rebuilding New Orleans from Texas. Not knowing what it
meant, he was reassured by members of his Bible study group that everyone
has a purpose, and to be ready when God revealed his to him. That next email,
gave him that revelation. It was from a person, who by some way, had been able
to get out a transmission to him that they were trapped on the roof of a house
asking for him to contact someone to get them off. He received more emails of
that sort, which charted his course. He was clear that his website was to be used
to transmit crucial information to those who were unable to evacuate, but could
get to his website, and then to those who had dispersed, to
communicate to each other, and find out what happened
to their own loved ones with whom they had become
disconnected.
What followed, was a super-website, which was the
mechanism for people to communicate back and forth, find
out useful information such as how to prepare water for
drinking, where to find supplies and resources wherever
they were, and receive messages from people who were
trapped. The site linked to other sites with information
and postings, and lists of evacuees and their whereabouts.
In short, it was a miracle for those who were searching
sometimes fearing without hope for their families but
finding what they needed, sometimes the news was not
good, but more often, it was the beginning of a joyous
reunion, and sometimes it saved lives.
Since the immediate aftermath, much of the media has died down regarding
life after Katrina, but Sylvain has not stalled his efforts. The website has over
20,000 subscribers, and countless other readers who are forwarded the link from
subscribers, or get the link from other websites. www.theneworleansagenda.com,
is a source of local information for most of the major news outlets, from CNN to
the Networks and their affiliates across the nation, and even receives requests
for information on the ground in New Orleans from people and media overseas.
Notoriety of this sort could cause one to become clouded about what they are
doing and why they are doing it, but not Vincent Sylvain. When asked what he
sees as the continued need for this website, he without hesitation responded,
“The Redevelopment!” “I now exist to ensure that the victims are a part of the
redevelopment process in this city.” Sylvain continued, “The current ‘powers that
be’ are trying their best to keep the people in a vacuum, when what is needed
most is transparency.” “ I intend to keep publishing, and bringing information to
the people until they are home. Here, in New Orleans, where they belong, with
their families in tact, and living life here again. I will not rest until that day comes,”
he says.
Vincent said that this tragedy brings to mind the stories told of when the Africans
were loaded on the slave ships before their trans-Atlantic trip through the middle
passage. Visions of seeing Black families separated again, loaded on busses and
planes, not knowing where they were going, where their families were, if they
were alive or dead, or if they would ever see their children again. Black families.
He said the parallels were just too great to ignore. If there was something that he
could do, to help, to comfort, to inform these people, his people, he did what he
was compelled to do.
Vincent Sylvain, we salute you as a Trailblazer. Our local Unsung Hero!
Page January 28, 2006
New Orleans Data News Weekly
DATA ZONE Entertainment
Starz Inblack Celebrates Black History Month
With A Diverse Array Of Fresh Entertainment
Featuring World Premieres, Originals, Documentaries and Music
Every Night, All Month Long, at 8 p.m. ET/PT Only on Starz InBlack
Starz InBlack celebrates Black History Month with a diverse slate of world premieres,
originals, documentaries and music, every night at 8 p.m. only on Starz InBlack. Special features
during February include the world premiere of the soulful blues concert “Blues Divas” with
interviews by Morgan Freeman, the film, In My Country starring Samuel L. Jackson and
much more.
“At Starz InBlack we celebrate the rich history
of African Americans every day of the year with
our diverse selection of movies, originals and
documentaries,” said Stephan Shelanski, senior
vice president, acquisitions, programming and
scheduling. “To commemorate Black History
Month, we’ve created a month-long celebration,
saluting the achievements of African Americans in Hollywood with a
special presentation every night at 8 p.m.”
Also making its world television premiere on Starz InBlack on Saturday,
February 11, is In My Country starring Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette
Binoche. Langston Whitfield (Jackson) is a
Washington Post journalist who travels on assignment
to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission hearings. Also covering the hearings,
which serve as a forum for those accused of murder
and torture to be confronted by their victims, is Anna Malan (Binoche). Through their stories
about courage, compassion and the redeeming power of love the two journalists, inspire both the
world and themselves. The film was directed by Academy Award® nominee John Boorman.
Another featured presentation is Lightning in a Bottle on Friday, February 10. Hosted by twotime Grammy Award® winner India.Arie, Lightning in a Bottle is a remarkable concert film
that presents live performances from blues legends who gathered at Radio City Music Hall for
an unprecedented and thrilling music event. India Arie also performs
in the film, along with legendary performers from rock, jazz, rap and the
blues, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Chris Thomas King, Macy
Gray, Aerosmith, Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, Natalie Cole, Chuck
D and others.
Starz InBlack will also present its
original documentary UNSTOPPABLE: A
Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles,
Gordon Parks and Ossie Davis on
Tuesday, February 28. UNSTOPPABLE: A
Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles,
Gordon Parks and Ossie Davis provides a
candid and revealing look at the first African
Americans to direct Hollywood features Melvin Van Peebles (Sweet Sweetbacks’
Baadasssss Song, Classified X), Gordon
Parks (The Learning Tree, Shaft) and Ossie
Davis (Cotton Comes to Harlem). Also
featured in the documentary are testimonials
from
actor/writer/director
Reginald
Hudlin, director Julie Dash, actress/
director Ruby Dee, writer/filmmaker Nelson George, and actor/
director Mario Van Peebles who comment on the trio’s influence on
their careers, our culture and society. Producer Warrington Hudlin
(House Party, Boomerang, Bebe’s Kids), who is also president of the
Black Filmmaker Foundation, moderates the conversation.
Other features presented
throughout the month at
8 p.m. et/pt, include:
Do The Right Thing, starring
Ossie Davis, Spike Lee and Ruby
Dee, Wednesday, February 8.
Last of the Mississippi Jukes,
Thursday, February 9.
Hitch, starring Will Smith,
Sunday, February 12.
Blade: Trinity, starring Wesley
Snipes, Saturday, February 18.
Hendrix: Band of Gypsys,
starring Jimi Hendrix and Buddy
Miles, Monday, February 20.
Mr. 3000, starring Bernie Mac,
Saturday, February 25.
DATA ZONE Entertainment
New Orleans Data News Weekly
January 28, 2006
Page SOMETIMES THE SEASON’S BEST
COMEDY CAN
UP ON YOU.
Belafonte: Entertainer
Turns Activist
By. Nayaba Arinde
Special to the NNPA from the
Amsterdam News
NEW YORK (NNPA) – ‘’I don’t
know if President Bush is the
greatest terrorist, I’ve not met
them all, but he’s damn sure in the
running,” as mild and gentile as you
want to be, civil rights activist and
beloved performer Harry Belafonte
addressed the audience at the
Canaan Baptist Church annual King
Day celebration.
Introduced by Rev. Al Sharpton,
he was a surprise guest speaker
at an event attended by ambitious
politicos like Democratic New York
Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck
Schumer, and higher-office hopefuls
like Jeanine Pirro, Thomas Suozzi,
Mark Green and Eliot Spitzer
>From Katrina to the occupation
of Iraq to the gravalicious prison
industrial complex, the 78-year-old
former Calypsonian told an audience
in awe that ‘’terror is unleashed. The
Gestapo is here.’’ Repeating a charge
he first made at the beginning of this
month in Caracas, Venezuela, when
he and Danny Glover and Professor
Cornel West met with President
Hugo Chávez, with a quiet force
Belefonte once again labeled George
Walker Bush, the president of the
United States, one of the greatest
terrorists the world has ever seen.
Far from being stunned, the
audience of more than three
thousand hung on his every word
and applauded him like he had
delivered a grand and honest
state address. Politicians, activists,
Katrina evacuees, the general public,
and members of the press stood for
the man as he retold stories of his
encounters with Dr. King; his last
conversation when he asked him
why he seemed so out-of-sorts; the
wisdom he imparted to the popular
entertainer; and the immense
national, global and international
impact of his life and death.
But it was when he delivered his
no-holds-barred barrage against
Bush that Belefonte electrified an
audience that had to sit through
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s obsequious
comment: “When you look at the
way the House of Representatives
has been run, it has been run like a
plantation - and you know what I am
talking about.’’
Addressing everyone, but noting
the gathering of Gulf Coast evacuees
in particular, Belafonte told of how
in the wake of the government’s
ALICE WALKER,
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING
AUTHOR RAVES;
“I love SOMETHING NEW.
A marvelous, sweet, loving
creation. It is art that desires,
encourages and affirms what
and who we actually are. It also
reminds us love is the revolution
that can’t be stopped; and it
is the heart, not the mind
or the Mercedes that
gets us home.”
Entertainer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte speaks during a press conference at
the Arts Presenters Members Conference in New York, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006 . Belafonte
called U.S. President George W. Bush ‘the greatest terrorist in the world’ in a recent television
broadcast. (AP Photo/Shiho Fukada)
abandonment, ‘’a third world
country’’ had made offers of help,
only to be refused by the U.S.
government. Nonetheless Venezuela
shipped oil to the people of the South
Bronx and even Massachusetts.
Berated in the white-owned media
following the ‘’Bush is a terrorist’’
analysis he delivered a few weeks
ago, Belafonte could be mistaken
for Kanye West, who determined
in the wake of Katrina during a live
televised fundraising effort that
‘’Bush doesn’t like Black people.’’
Belafonte brushed off the
banshee critics.
‘’I’m not running for office, but
I’m not running for the border,
either,” he said. Having to bare the
burden of adversity is nothing new,
he noted. Black folks have ‘’survived
centuries of terror – the greatest
terror of all was slavery.’’ After 9-11,
‘’We decided that Osama bin Laden
was the terrorist;” now terror rains
down from an individual who may
have usurped the presidency. “It’s
dubious how he got there,” said
Belafonte, and he “seizes upon the
fear and rage [and vulnerability]
of a nation which had just been
assaulted. … He lied to the people
of this nation, distorted the truth,
declared war on a nation who had
not attacked us … put America’s
sons and daughters in harm’s way
… and destroyed the lives of tens
of thousands of [Iraqi] women and
children who had nothing to do with
it. It was an act of terror. Those who
commit acts of terror are usually
defined as terrorists.’’
The crowd soaked in all he said,
but church being church, and
Black folk being Black folk, several
hundred responded orally to just
about every word he said.
During Katrina, while thousands
of people were drowning, on the first
day Bush was playing golf, Belafonte
said. Days later he visited the area
briefly. But when you leave an ‘’abyss
of fear, that’s an act of terror.’’
Then he addressed the prison
system. ‘’America has the largest
prison population in the world,’’ he
said, and the majority of folk therein
are Black people.’’
As a matter of public policy,
prisons are being thrown up with a
speed surpassing healthcare centers,
churches and schools, Belafonte
said, and as the system is being
turned over to the private sector,
rest assured, everything is geared
up to fill those cells. No profit comes
from empty cots, so here come the
draconian laws to ensure the bottom
line is maximized.
“King and Nelson Mandela were
called terrorists. That turned out to
be false [and they became known]
as some of the most honorable men
of our time,” he said.
Belafonte recalled that back in his
early activist days he had been spied
upon by the CIA; now it is Homeland
Security monitoring everyone he
talks to. “The CIA followed me
everywhere. They said I was a
terrorist. Now in these final days,
Homeland Security is investigating
everything.’’ Perhaps they figure
him a terrorist, he concluded,
smiling broadly.
Later, Belafonte stepped up his
criticism of the Bush administration,
particularly the Department of
Homeland Security.
‘’We’ve come to this dark time in
which the new Gastapo of Homeland
Security lurks here, where citizens
are having their rights suspended,’’
he said at the Arts Presenters
Members Conference. ‘’You can be
arrested and not charged. You can
be arrested and have no right to
counsel.’’
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THEATRE NEAR YOU!
Page January 28, 2006
New Orleans Data News Weekly
OPINION
New Orleans: Chocolate, Vanilla or Neapolitan?
George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
opened himself up for a torrent of
criticism when he declared in a
Martin Luther King Day speech
that God wants New Orleans to
again be a chocolate city.
In his speech, he said, Itís time
for us to come together. Itís time
for us to rebuild New Orleans ñ the
one that should be a chocolate New
Orleans. Nagin added, This city will
be a majority African American city.
Itís the way God wants it to be. You
canít have New Orleans no other
way. It wouldnít be New Orleans.
Under fire, Nagin backed away
from his comments.
Itís easy to criticize Nagin for his
choice of words or for professing
to speak for God ñand many have
done just that. But thatís the easy
way out. Whatís missing in the
discussion about rebuilding New
Orleans is a candid exchange
about race. Now that the mayor
has apologized for calling for the
reconstruction of a chocolate city,
letís discuss whatís being avoided ñ
the issue of race.
Of course, race is not the primary
issue when pondering New Orleansí
future. The paramount issue is one
of safety and providing protection
against future hurricanes in the
below-sea-level city. But in deciding
how to rebuild New Orleans, race
becomes a salient factor, intended
or not.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina,
New Orleans had the fifth-highest
concentration of African-Americans
among major cities, according
to the Census Bureau. With 84
percent, Gary, Ind. led the nation in
that category, followed by Detroit
with 81.6 percent, Birmingham,
Ala. at 73.5 percent, Jackson,
Miss. With 70.6 percent and New
Orleans, with Blacks representing
67.3 percent of the population (the
other leading chocolate cities were
Baltimore, 64.3 percent, Atlanta,
61.4, Memphis, 61.4, Washington,
D.C., 60 percent and Richmond,
Va., 57.2).
Mayor Nagin isnít the only
person suggesting that New
Orleans should maintain its
chocolate majority. Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development
Alphonso Jackson, an AfricanAmerican, predicted that New
Orleans will become more vanillalike. And even those who profess
to want a Neapolitan city ñ similar
to the equal stripes of chocolate,
vanilla and strawberry in the brickshaped block of ice cream ñ know
that under current plans, vanilla
will become the dominant flavor of
the city.
Whatever the final product, race
should be openly debated. New
Orleans will, in effect, become
a planned community and race
should be part of that planning.
New Orleans, like most major U.S.
cities, has a largely segregated
public school system that grew out
of largely segregated residential
patterns. If the city can be revived
in a way that leaves no racial group
isolated from important resources
and services, Hurricane Katrina
could be a blessing in disguise.
However, if the unstated plan is
to rid the city of its Black majority,
then everyone should return to the
drawing board.
New
Orleansí
population
approached 500,000 prior to
Katrina. The special Bring New
Orleans Back Commission places
the current population at 144,000.
The population is projected to rise
to 181,000 by next September and
247,000 by September 2008. The
commission says it is hoping to
make New Orleans the best city in
the world.
But the commission has not
helped its image by recommending
a four-month moratorium on
rebuilding the most damaged
neighborhoods, most of them
Black. The commission says a
determination must be made to
allow reconstruction or tear down
these areaa and allow others to
redevelop them.
On January 22, the New York
Times carried a candid headline: In
New Orleans, Smaller May Mean
Whiter. That kind of candor and
directness needs to be injected into
the discussions about the new New
Orleans.
The city, nearly 70 percent
African-American before Hurricane
Katrina, has lost some of its largest
black neighborhoods to the deluge,
and many fear it will never be a
predominantly black city again, as it
has been since the 1970ís, the New
York Times article observed.
It continued, Indeed, race has
become a subtext for just about
every contentious decision the city
faces: where to put FEMA trailers;
which neighborhoods to rebuild;
how the troubled school system
should be reorganized; when
elections should be held. Many
blacks see threats to their political
domination in reconstruction plans
that do not give them what they
once had. But many whites see an
opportunity to restore a broken city
they fled decades ago.
Itís an opportunity for Blacks
and Whites to come together and
determine what will be best for
the city. But they canít do that by
ignoring the elephant in the room
ñ race.
George E. Curry is editor-in-chief of the
NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSA.
com. He appears on National Public Radio
(NPR) three times a week as part of News
and Notes with Ed Gordon. To contact Curry
or to book him for a speaking engagement,
go to his Web site, www.georgecurry.com.
Sweet Lorraine’s is open.
The Love Dr.
Data Columnist
Those of you who have read
this column or listened to me
on the radio, or watched me on
television will know that this
short sentence means that my
life is more full and rounded as a
result and that there may be hope
for new - New Orleans. For those
of you who are not familiar with
several years of my expressions,
please know that Sweet Lorraine’s
is my favorite pub, jazz club, and
late evening eatery, my home
away from home.
In a conversation with a
business associate, we spoke of
yearning for life to “get back to
normal” only to understand that
there will be no “going back” to
“normal”, only the creation of
a new “normal”, new patterns,
people and places that will
become our new comfort zones,
our new normalcy. In the mean
time however, for most of us, until
we have that predictability in our
days and nights, there will be a
stress level and a yearning for
the familiar, and that is why the
reopening of Sweet Lorraine’s
means so much to me.
With very little water damage,
it was only a matter of getting
electricity and gas and a familiar
part of my life has returned. My
return to Sweet Lorraine’s was
like stepping back in time, to a
time when there was order in my
life, back to normal.
It’s really funny, because I
am not a traditional “bar man”.
Happily married for over thirty
years, Sweet Lorraine’s only
entered my life a few years ago
when on a whim Boo and I went to
check out my friend’s place (Paul
Sylvester) when another friend
(Philip Manuel) was on stage.
It was Boo who recognized me
sinking into a state of relaxation
that she hadn’t seen since? , well
since I used to be “into” music
before we were married and had
children. So it was “on”.
More recently, I began to enjoy
the quality of the conversation of
the “regulars” and the “specials”
from the kitchen (sometimes not
on the menu).
Men and women who are
hunters in their souls find a great
deal of solace in the company
of other hunters, and Sweet
Lorraine’s seems to attract such
kindred souls. Busy people who
only have limited time for such
kinship and who need to invest
it wisely tend to hang out at the
front tables and bar of the club.
Some of this may be due in part
to the natural wood surroundings,
but this pub feature is due mostly
to the ever present owner and the
circle he attracts.
Paul is a New Orleans man,
period. He worships it’s musicians
and has created a shrine to them,
the back part of the club where
Boo and I hang out when I’m at
Sweet Lorraine as half of a couple.
You see, it’s just that kind of
place. You can hang out with the
“fellas” (men and women) during
the week, and entertain your
significant other on the weekends,
and the bartender remembers
your drink (when you tip).
I particularly need my “place”,
if only to help my life feel some
kind of normal, as I do different
work, with different people in a
completely different city. I miss
my friend and the place named
after his mother (and what I call
mine), together and separately.
My greatest pleasure is good
conversation and Paul always
holds court over current or historic
issues and events, never heated,
however energetic. An hour
spent at Sweet Lorraine’s after a
twelve hour shift was uplifting and
relaxing, an emotional anchor for
my new reality.
He says he’s bringing it all
back, and Boo and I can’t wait for
another one of those “last time I
saw you relax like that” moments.
I know we will laugh when we
look at one another across dinner
to Someone Wonderful’s exquisite
music, and know that we are
really home. Whether he knows it
or not, my friend Paul has created
an institution, both a pub and a
performance venue with a distinct
flavor.
And speaking of flavor, like I
wrote, over dinner, because Paul
has had excellent and interesting
things come out of his kitchen
along with classics. You can
spend an entire evening at Sweet
Lorraine’s, drinks after work, then
dine, than get or meet your Boo
and stay for the entertainment,
which Paul had varied before the
storm with the addition of spoken
word. Actually I’m working on a
“Love Doctor Live” performance
style that I may introduce there,
and I? Studying bartending for
what the new normal may be in
my future.
So I guess I can’t claim that
I’m not a “bar man” anymore
ever since I relaxed at Sweet
Lorraine’s.
Go To LOVELOGISTICS.COM for more information.
Lloyd Dennis is also available as a speaker; email
him at LD@LLOYDDENNIS.COM, fax 504-368-1225
To Our Readers:
It is extremely important during these unprecedented times for New Orleanians, for you to
receive information that is pertinent to the growth and reconstruction of our city. The Data
News Weekly has taken on the charge to reach out to our readership which is now dispersed
throughout the country. It is the responsibility of the Black Press, as historically, it has been
the Black Press which has been the trusted source of information for our people, dating back
over 60 years. The Black Press was credited with being the number one source of information
during The Great Migration, when thousands of Blacks were leaving the South for work
opportunities in the North. The Black Press kept them connected, and in its own way, helped
in changing the face of America.
Continuing in this great tradition, The Data News Weekly in its 39th year of publishing,
understands that another “great migration” has occurred, and though the circumstances for
our moving are different, the result is the same. We still have a need to be connected, but the
large majority of our readership is not currently connected to the internet, and so we have
redistributed our newspaper throughout Baton Rouge, Houston, TX and Jackson, MS, in
addition to New Orleans, to be a better communication source for our displaced readers.
Understanding our responsibility, we also realize that we could not undertake this
tremendous effort without the support of the corporate community. Moët Hennesy USA
has, prior to this disaster, been a major supporter of the Black Press of America and of the
Data News Weekly, and now, as we go through these trying times, we sincerely appreciate
their continuing support of our overall responsibility to the New Orleanian African
American community.
The Data News Weekly, will continue to bring you the news from home, keeping you informed,
wherever you may be, and helping you to find your way home. Once again, The Data News
Weekly wishes to express it’s gratitude to Moët Hennesy USA, for its ongoing support of our
publication and our mission.
Thank You Moët Hennesy USA
Page 10
January 28, 2006
New Orleans Data News Weekly
NNPA Highlights
George Fraser Networks with Black Publishers
By. Jimmie Briggs
NNPA National
Correspondent
SAVANNAH,
Ga.(NNPA)
Looking at George C. Fraser,
many people think he was born
of privilege and wealth His
RU011806AA_6_37x10
trademark coifed white1/11/06
hair and
monogrammed, cuffed shirts
make that an easy assumption.
Most people are surprised
at the truth, he notes with a
wry smile. The truth is that
the 60-year-old founder of the
Cleveland based networking
group Frasernet and bestselling
author of Success Runs in Our
Race (Amistad) and Race for
9:58
AM Page
1 Morrow), lived
Success
(William
a hardscrabble life in the gritty
Brooklyn, N.Y neighborhood of
Bedford-Stuyvesant.
One of 11 foster children, he
made it through high school but
not college. Nevertheless, he
managed to attain an enviable life
of economic and social success.
Fraser believes any Black person
in America can do the same,
a message he preaches at 150
speaking engagements per year.
John B. Smith, Nnpa Chairman And George Fraser
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Despite a schedule which
keeps him traveling regularly, he
had never spoken to the Black
publishers, editors and reporters
of the NNPA (National Newspaper
Publishers Association) until
its
Mid-Winter
Workshop
Conference here last week.
The extremely light-skinned
Fraser opened his lunchtime
remarks in a ballroom at the
Savannah Marriott Riverfront
Hotel with the words, Yep, I’m
Black.
Following the expected
chuckles
and
enthusiastic
applause from the audience,
Fraser followed with a halfhour talk outlining strategies
for unity and success, which
he aggressively directed to the
assembled publishers.
I will not be saying anything
you have not heard before, but I
will be saying it in a different way,
he noted. Words create worlds.
But our actions drown out our
words.
Prior to his speech, Fraser sat
down for a brief interview with an
NNPA correspondent.
My story is really a very simple
one, he says, as a man with 2,500
names in his rolodex. If I can
make it, any brother or sister
can make it. You have to convert
the knowledge you have into a
marketable skill and recognize
the power of relationships in our
lives.
Fraser spent some amount
of time in almost any job one
could imagine from encyclopedia
salesman to Ford Motor Company
executive. Twelve years ago,
he graced the cover of Black
Enterprise magazine, anointed
the networker for Black America.
Then in 1996, his business,
SuccessSource, Inc. was forced to
file for bankruptcy.
More than familiar with a
lifetime of difficult challenges,
the kid from Brooklyn bounced
back and created the nowsuccessful Frasernet, an online
resource for Black professionals
to learn about his suggested tools
for networking and producer
of annual PowerNetworking
conference for guest speakers and
the public to interact for several
days. The conference has drawn
more than 12,000 participants and
some of Black America’s most
successful figures, including Les
Brown, Stedman Graham and
Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin.
SuccessSource
Unlimited
now creates networking and
information resource guides for
Black professionals.
I’m not a racist, he explains. I’m
a racialist.’ This is a person who
has dedicated doing everything he
can to first improving the quality
of life and creating economic
opportunities for his people. First.
Not only but first.
Fraser identified what he sees
as the three most important
components for leadership in
the 21st Century to the NNPA
publishers.
These
included
wakefulness, alertness and an
unwavering dissatisfaction.
Referring to the German
psychologist and philosopher
Carl Jung, Fraser talked about
a need for synchronicity among
leaders and professionals within
the Black community, including
journalists.
Everybody as a role, he noted.
You’re not the message, you’re
the messengers. We’re not so
much a dispossessed people as
we are disconnected. We’re not
effectively networking with each
other. God uses everyone.
New Orleans Data News Weekly
January 28, 2006
Cover Story cont’d.
from page 3.
Mahalia Jackson
Gospel Traditions
Like the early Blues, Gospel music (though
not named as such in its early beginnings) was
also an a cappella expression derived from a
rural down home tradition rooted in the African
American slave experience.
In the early 20th century in New Orleans,
Gospel groups generally consisted of small 3 to
4 person quartets and choirs heard in storefront
chapels and spirit-filled churches all over town.
Although the vernacular of Gospel music in rural
areas of the South incorporated tambourine,
drum, trumpet, and saxophone accompaniment,
instrumental accompaniment was slow to be
introduced in New Orleans. Mainstream AME
and Black Baptist congregations considered a
great deal of musical instrumentation to be taboo
-- too much like the “Devil’s music.” This stance
was ironic, given that rhythmic movement was
very much a part of the stylistic properties and
spirit-filled dance that appeared in churches on
Sundays. Then Jazz musicians started playing in
church.
Drawing from their musical sensibilities
and discipline, Jazz musicians
introduced
slightly
richer
musical arrangements in 1920’s
and 30’s, foreshadowing the
great shift towards mass choirs
having 30 to 40 singers and a
full ensemble complement of
horns, drums, pianos, organs,
guitars and so on. Despite
this shift, which became more
pronounced after World War
II, a cappella stylization and
Zion Harmonizers
minimum instrumentation still remained
popular for some, led by the “Grand Daddies”
you might say, of the Gospel sound, The Zion
Harmonizers.
Founded in 1939 and named after the small
New Orleans community called Zion City, The
Zion Harmonizers were early proponents of the
mid-20th century style of four-part harmony. In
1942, the group came under the management of
Sherman Washington, a much beloved figure in
town credited with popularizing Gospel music
to the Majority. The group is currently in its 6th
decade together, and still performs at various
New Orleans venues, including at the famed
House Of Blues during Sunday Gospel Brunch.
Today Washington is Director of the famous
Gospel Tent at the annual New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival, where festival-goers enjoy
spirited performances from some 80 Gospel
singers and groups like Jai Reed, Miss Emma,
the Moses Hogan Sisters, the Joyful Gospel
Singers, and Mighty Chariots of Fire—just to
name a few.
No discussion of Gospel Music is complete
without acknowledging “The Queen of Gospel
Music”, Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972). Born on
Water Street in New Orleans, at age 4 Mahalia
began singing Gospel at the Plymouth Rock
Baptist Church. Her father, Johnny Jackson, was
pastor. Though influenced by music styles and
performers common to New Orleans daily life
(Blues, Ragtime, Jazz), her Gospel influence was
unwavering and the most significant throughout
life. Thus, Mahalia’s contralto intonation and
phrasing are firmly rooted in her New Orleans
church upbringing, though at age 16 she moved
toChicago, where she went on to artistic and
commercial fame.
Ask your parents and grandparents, if anyone
before or since could sing Gospel like Mahalia
Jackson. Though a young Aretha Franklin
arguably came closest, no one quite measures
up to her powerful, sustained, multi-octave voice.
Think you’ve heard her voice by listening to a
few of her records? Not really. Master recording
tapes and records could not capture the dynamic
range of her astounding, resonant
voice. In fact Martin Luther King,
Jr. said of Mahalia, “A voice like
this comes, not once in a century,
but once in a millennium.” She is
always remembered, celebrated
and hailed as finest vocalist in the
history of the genre.
Thomas Dorsey is Founder &
CEO SoulOfAmerica.com and
Soul of America Travel, Inc.
Page 11
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